I could see posting the same question to get a wide range of answers if you only get one or two. but I don't see why someone would say this fourm told me to do this. personaly I don't know many fish fourms I know one about reefs, this on,e and about loachs, and one about keeping huge fish. lol_________________WHY doesn't my flying fish fly?

Its the same in a lot of areas. My career is in IT. When I worked in a call center, people would call me all the time to tell me how someone else told them how to do something, and I wonder why I need to be on the phone for them to do something someone else told them to do.

However, there is something to be said for critical thinking and evaluating information. One way to do that is to compare it to other sources. An idea that cannot stand up to questioning or challenging needs to be seriously reconsidered...and in my opinion, isn't worth following. While I get annoyed with people who call me for my opinion and then tell me they are going to do something else and I need to stand by to fix their mistakes, I do it anyway. I agree with and support individual research and testing.

This. In the past, I have at times quoted here what I've been told on other forums, and I've taken what I've been told here and quoted it elsewhere, mostly because I wasn't certain if the advice was sound. Mainly I've been looking for validation--if person A says I should not use a certain type of rock in my aquarium but maybe doesn't say why, is person A still right? Why should I accept the advice at face value, rather than getting consensus from a few sources?

Considering how many things can go wrong in this hobby, how time-consuming and expensive it is, I think it is wise (especially for new hobbyists) to consult as many sources as possible and question everything they are told. One of the first things we tell newbies is not to listen to their LFS because 99% of the time, the LFS gives bad advice. But that doesn't make the people on the forum infallible, as Topper and unissuh rightly pointed out.

Having said that, it does depend on how exactly the advice from another location is being presented here. If a bunch of us give good advice to someone, and then that someone comes back and says, "Well, on cichlid-forum.com they told me the complete opposite so I'm just going to do that NYAHNYAH!!!" I'd find that pretty rude too. That's not asking for validation--that's asking for a smack. : )_________________What color is your straitjacket?

Well as Trooper said not everyone just jumps off of the couch or chair and does what they are told. I would like to only I am 15 and don't yet have a car or a license for that matter, so I couldnt just go to the store and pick up some test kits or silicone or a heater. I am a member of myfishtank.net too but it is more difficult to use because it doesn't tell you where there are new posts or where your posts are..._________________In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. - Martin